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Wanted "crypto queen" Ignatova: 72 clues so far
Photo:
OneCoin
For a few weeks now, the billion-dollar fraud involving OneCoin has also become known to many who were unaware of its peak in the middle of the last decade.
Since then, German authorities have been publicly searching advertising spaces in train stations and city centers with the photo of co-founder and front woman Ruja Ignatova.
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Ruja, as she was called by her supporters, is now one of Europol's most wanted suspects.
In 2017, the “crypto queen” disappeared without a trace after selling training materials on her alleged “bitcoin killer” and promising high returns to unsuspecting investors online and at sales events around the world.
Her last known whereabouts were Athens.
The German investigations into the OneCoin complex are more comprehensive than previously known.
According to SPIEGEL information, the Darmstadt public prosecutor's office has been investigating Ignatova's long-time partner and husband since last August.
On request, the authority confirms an investigation against "a lawyer from Neu-Isenburg", whom it suspects of money laundering: According to this, Ignatova is said to have arranged the transfer of 7.69 million euros, which allegedly came from their fraud crimes, to one of his private accounts in 2016.
At the end of January, investigators searched apartments and offices in Weilburg, Baden-Baden, Frankfurt am Main, Bad Homburg, Neu-Isenburg and Vaihingen in a large-scale operation.
Evidence and assets have been secured, the investigations are complex and would probably take several months, according to the public prosecutor.
The accused left an inquiry about the allegations unanswered.
Born in Bulgaria, Ignatova came to Schramberg in the Black Forest with her parents as a teenager and did her doctorate in law in Konstanz. She is now a German citizen.
In 2014 she founded OneCoin together with a business partner, they marketed their project as an alleged »Bitcoin killer« and the »future of money«.
Emails between the two from the year it was founded suggest the project was designed to be a scam from the start.
As an "exit strategy" they were already discussing disappearing with the money and shifting the blame to others.
Onecoin process in Münster is in danger of collapsing
Investigators and courts in numerous countries are dealing with the case.
Ignatova's brother Konstantin, who temporarily assumed a leadership role after her disappearance, was arrested at Los Angeles Airport in 2019 while attempting to enter the United States.
In the meantime, he testified in detail in proceedings against another suspect and pleaded guilty to fraud and money laundering.
In Germany, the main investigations against OneCoin participants are underway at the Bielefeld public prosecutor's office.
In September, a trial against three defendants began in Münster, including a couple who temporarily acted as a OneCoin sales organization in Germany.
According to the investigating prosecutors, between December 2015 and late summer 2016 alone, 320 million euros flowed to Ignatova's organization.
Based on an analysis of the account numbers, the investigators assume that more than 20,000 OneCoin investors came from Germany in this period alone.
Globally, the damage for cheated investors is said to be in the billions of dollars.
The process in Münster is not under a good star.
Recently, numerous appointments had been canceled due to the illness of various process participants, and now, according to the investigating public prosecutor in Bielefeld, it could burst completely due to the failure of a lay assessor.
The public search for the "crypto queen" has apparently not yet brought a breakthrough.
So far, 72 tips have been received, according to Bielefeld.